Minnesota trial of Derek Chauvin (killer of George Floyd) reactions

In My Humble Opinion
1023

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, pleaded guilty Wednesday to separate federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights.

As part of a plea deal, Chauvin pleaded guilty to one count of violating Floyd’s civil rights and to one count of violating the rights of a 14-year-old in a separate case. Prosecutors said other related charges to those cases would be dismissed.

Thus essentially no additional punishment for the federal crimes, since the sentence is to be served concurrently.

1024

But it means the state court appeal isn’t going to matter as much.

1025

I think the state court appeal was something of a long shot anyway, am I right ?

1026

This seems to indicate that Derek Chauvin and his team seem to think so.

1027

Isn’t the guilty plea (which he probably to cop in order to get a concurrent sentence) going to put a big black cloud over his head in any civil proceeding?

1028

I thought the family settled their civil suit?

1029

They settled with the city. Did that include actions against tChauvin?

1030

Not necessarily (but likely since the city’s liability was primarily vicarious), but they got millions from the city and Chauvin is probably judgment proof. (i.e., poor)

The city either got a release that covered him, or the family will probably just let it drop.

1031

He actually had fairly decent assets but he divorced his wife and she got everything in the divorce. Obviously this was to protect the assets. There is a separate case involving that and tax evasion.

1032

Compared to $27M, I doubt he had much even before hiding his assets.

1033

The federal sentence is 300 months–25 years. In terms of actual time served how does this compare with what he will actually serve in state prison?

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According to my memory, federal inmates serve 85% of their sentence
ETA: Because of “good time” credit, which I assume he’ll get.

1035

Is he going to care? I suspect his retirement needs will be fully met by the government, state or federal, and he wasn’t going to stand much of a chance in a civil suit anyway.

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And how much can he expect to serve in Minnesota state prisons?

1037

I wish they wouldn’t do this for such a serious set of crimes. I understand the reasons they do it, it just seems wrong to me. It’s like commit one crime. get another crime free.

I think , as said above, he has charges pending for trying to hide money thru his divorce. Does anyone know if his police pension (if he has one) is secure from civil forfeiture?

I think it said 2/3, in his case 17 years.

1038

I disagree, this is too much like double jeopardy to me. Chauvin murdered a man. That is the crime.

1039

If this is true then he might have to serve 4 years or so in Federal Prison:

(25 * .85) = 21.25 years Federal - 17 years State = 4.25 years in Federal Prison after he spends 17 years in state.

1040

No, the federal charges are different. They are all about violating George Floyd’s civil rights. That’s their jurisdiction and seems totally justified to me.

1041

He killed him, and thereby deprived him of civil rights? It’s a real stretch to call that a distinct crime.

1042

But the federal charges were more specific, including not getting him medical care and kneeling on his neck when he was already secured. It also includes another case where he choked and beat a 14 year old with his flashlight.

I think civil rights violations are very important to prosecute when they are being violated by members of the government. Sometimes civil rights cases are the only way police officers are punished at all, since local prosecutors and juries have a long track record of not prosecuting police for their crimes.

I read there was no parole in the federal system. Is “good time” different from parole?